Yesterday morning I stopped at a local restaurant for a quick breakfast. My order was simple. I requested scrambled eggs with mushrooms, made with Egg Beaters, and a cup of coffee.

I did not take the 2 pieces of toast that normally come with the eggs.

I did not take the hash brown potatoes that normally come with the eggs.

No toast, so I did not use any of the butter on the table.

No toast, so I did not use any of the jelly on the table.

No hash browns, so I did not use the ketchup that was on the table.

I drink my coffee black, so I used no sugar, and no cream.

I received the check, and noticed that I was charged $1.00 extra because I had requested Egg Beaters instead of eggs. I saved the restaurant money on the 2 pieces of bread, the hash browns, the butter, the jelly, the ketchup, the sugar and the cream. But they are going to charge me $1.00 for the Egg Beaters.

Imagine, they have made me angry enough to consider never again returning to their establishment, and all this for an extra $1.00 in the cash register. My issue isn't with the dollar, but with the mindset behind it. Can someone explain how this makes any sense? How does this build loyalty with a customer? Why do businesses have such a difficult time understand what customers want, and expect?

Are you charging any of your customers an "Egg Beater surcharge"? If yes, think about not keeping the surcharge, but instead keeping the customer.

TrackBack

Comments

Interesting that as a marketer you should ask for a premium branded product and expect to pay less than premium pricing, but I'll explain. The cost of what you didn't have still did not equal the cost of the Eggbeaters, which is why there is an extra expense and which was probably clearly written on the menu. Eggbeaters can only be purchased in large quantities (usually no breakage for restaurants with this product) and once they're open they must be used or discarded. The rest must be stored in the freezer (extra cost) because the product has a low turnover rate. A restaurant, though they do try to make every customer happy, is still a business and must be run like one or it will not survive. Order egg whites next time. (No extra charge.) The idea that somehow every business is supposed to cater to every consumer whim at their cost is a sad and fatal (if not impossible) flaw in business thinking, particularly in the restaurant business. And the "mindset" was not the business owners, but yours; that somehow you were cheated because you asked for premium and got charged for it. Go to the gas station and ask for premium at the same price as regular. What happens? Nothing,though you may grumble at the overall cost of gas in general, you know that premium is going to cost more than regular. Why is that somehow different in this restaurant? You could have walked in the gas station and told the attendant how you didn't use his squeegee and washer fluid, or how you didn't stop in the rest room and use the water and soap. Or how you didn't stand in front of the coolers with the door open and ultimately decide not to purchase a canned beverage. Would any of that have impacted what you paid for the gas?
My question to the restaurant owner would not have been why the extra expense, but why did the diner (you) not feel it was worth the price; what other parts of the dining experience were missing? Had your experience been more than average would this blog have even been posted?